The invention relates to the communication with computers using telephones.
Software and hardware are now available to enable computers to perform speech recognition. One application of speech recognition is in word processing, in which a user can draft a document by speaking into a microphone connected to the computer. Another application of speech recognition is in computerized telephone answering systems, in which a pre-recorded message prompts a caller to select different options by speaking.
In a computerized answering system the caller can access the system by calling from a telephone using an outside phone line. When the caller picks up the telephone, the phone company detects that a telephone has been taken off-hook (that is, in the off-hook state). Telephone line resources--including power, dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) or pulse dialing detectors, and call progress tone generators--are then dedicated to the now off-hook telephone.